Installation

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Retro Asset Studio is free to download and use. The current release is an alpha for Windows only. See Alpha Status for what that means.

System Requirements

Requirement Minimum
OS Windows 10 or Windows 11, 64-bit (x64)
RAM 4 GB (8 GB recommended)
Disk Space About 300 MB for the application, plus storage for generated assets
Graphics A GPU with WebGL support (needed by the Pose Editor)
Display 1280x720 or higher
Internet Required for AI image generation. Editing, posing, and spritesheet work run offline.

Download

Get the latest build from the download page:

retroassetstudio.com/download

Two packages are available for version 0.1.0-alpha.1:

Package File Use it when
Installer RetroAssetStudio-0.1.0-alpha.1-win-x64.exe You want a normal install with a Start menu entry and an uninstaller.
Portable RetroAssetStudio-0.1.0-alpha.1-win-x64.zip You cannot or do not want to install software. Unzip anywhere and run the .exe inside.

Both packages contain the same application. The portable version still stores its data in your user profile (see Data Storage below), not in the unzipped folder.

Verify the download (optional)

SHA-256 checksums for every file are published at retroassetstudio.com/downloads/SHA256SUMS.txt. To check a file on Windows, open a terminal in your Downloads folder and run:

certutil -hashfile RetroAssetStudio-0.1.0-alpha.1-win-x64.exe SHA256

Compare the printed hash with the one in SHA256SUMS.txt. If they differ, delete the file and download it again.

Installing

Installer

  1. Run RetroAssetStudio-0.1.0-alpha.1-win-x64.exe.
  2. If Windows shows a blue "Windows protected your PC" dialog, follow the steps in Windows SmartScreen warning.
  3. Follow the on-screen prompts.
  4. Launch Retro Asset Studio from the Start menu or the desktop shortcut.

Portable

  1. Extract RetroAssetStudio-0.1.0-alpha.1-win-x64.zip to a folder of your choice.
  2. Run Retro Asset Studio.exe from that folder.
  3. SmartScreen may appear here too. See the next section.

Windows SmartScreen warning

The alpha builds are not yet signed with a code-signing certificate, so Windows does not recognize the publisher and shows a warning the first time you run the installer or the portable executable. This is expected and does not mean the file is damaged or malicious. If you want extra assurance, verify the checksum first.

Step 1. Windows shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info.

SmartScreen dialog: click More info

Step 2. The dialog expands and shows the file name. Click Run anyway.

SmartScreen dialog: click Run anyway

The warning appears only once per downloaded file. Code signing is on the roadmap and will remove this step.

macOS and Linux

Coming soon. The alpha ships for Windows only. macOS and Linux builds are planned once the Windows version is stable. Follow the website or the feedback repository for announcements.

Uninstalling

If you used the installer, open Settings > Apps > Installed apps (or Apps & Features on Windows 10), find Retro Asset Studio, and choose Uninstall.

If you used the portable zip, simply delete the extracted folder.

Your data is kept

Uninstalling does not delete your projects. The data folder described below stays on disk so you can reinstall later or move your work with Export Project. Delete the folder manually if you want to remove everything.

Data Storage

All projects, generated images, and settings live in one folder inside your Windows user profile:

%APPDATA%\Retro Asset Studio\data\

Paste that path into the File Explorer address bar to open it. Inside you will find:

Item Contents
app.json The database: projects, characters, poses, frames, spritesheets, asset metadata, and your API keys (encrypted).
projects\<project id>\ One folder per project with its images, thumbnails, and reference images. See Project Data Structure.

The recommended way to back up a project is File > Export Project…, which writes a single .rasproj file. See Backup: export & import. Copying the whole data folder also works, but remember that app.json contains your encrypted API keys, so keep copies private.

Next Steps

Once installed, proceed to Getting Started to create your first project and generate your first asset.

Home Getting Started